Dorothy Christine Coleman v. HHS - Influenza, Guillain-Barre syndrome (2025)

On July 24, 2023, Dorothy Christine Coleman, then 62, filed a petition alleging that an influenza vaccine administered on August 24, 2020 caused Guillain-Barre syndrome. The damages record described significant preexisting health issues, including congestive heart failure, a history of Bell's palsy, anxiety, depression, skin cancer, memory loss, and stress urinary incontinence.

Around September 11, 2020, about eighteen days after vaccination, Ms. Coleman developed numbness in her hands and feet, weakness, poor balance, and falls.

She was hospitalized on September 19, 2020, underwent lumbar puncture findings consistent with GBS, received five days of IVIG, and then spent several days in inpatient rehabilitation before discharge with a cane or walker and home therapy. Her recovery improved over the following months.

By November 2020 she reported that about 75 percent of her strength had returned, though she continued to report numbness and balance issues into 2021. At damages, petitioner sought compensation for pain and suffering, annual future pain, unreimbursed expenses, and blepharoplasty-related costs.

Respondent proposed a lower pain-and-suffering award and challenged whether facial symptoms and urinary complaints were vaccine-related, given her Bell's palsy and stress incontinence history. Chief Special Master Brian H.

Corcoran found entitlement on April 17, 2024. On September 5, 2025, he awarded $130,000.00 for pain and suffering, but did not award the contested future pain, blepharoplasty, or unrelated expense items.